NASCAR driver Waltrip had no time for God, until a horrible crash knocked him ‘conscious’

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS — March 8, 2017) — Before he retired from racing and became a broadcaster, NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip was one of the winningest drivers in the modern era. For a time, he was also one of the most unpopular drivers — someone people loved to hate.

“My passion was racing and quite honestly I went at it all the wrong ways in the early years,” Waltrip told the 2016 National Prayer Breakfast. “I was just as aggressive off the racetrack as I was on. I didn’t have a lot of friends. I didn’t think I really needed friends.”

He was the driver with the loyal un-fan base. “They said I was brash, ruthless, pushy, cocky, conceited, aloof, boastful, arrogant, and downright annoying – and those were people that liked me.”

Richard Petty once turned to him and said, “I don’t know how you can get a sponsor, you’re so unpopular with the fans.”

Waltrip also liked to argue with the officials at NASCAR. “I didn’t like the rules, mainly because they never worked in my favor,” he said.

Off the track, he wasn’t much better. “I was so arrogant. I drank too much. I liked to go to the bars and hang out. I did everything to satisfy me.”

Waltrip was also married to a woman of faith named Stevie. “Stevie would always pray for me,” he said. “She was a godly woman who loved the Lord and she always prayed that someday, somehow we would get involved in a Bible study or church.”

When she needled him about going to church, he said, “I race on Sundays. I don’t have time to go to church. I’m busy all through the week. I just don’t have time for this church stuff and God stuff…”

About the writer: Mark Ellis is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and is also the founder of www.GodReports.com, a website that shares testimonies and videos from the church around the world to build interest and involvement in world missions. Previously, Mark co-hosted a TV show called “Windows on the World” with ANS Founder, Dan Wooding, aired on the Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network (http://hsbn.tv/), which is now co-hosted by Dr. Garry Ansdell, Senior Pastor of Hosanna Christian Fellowship in Bellflower, California.

** You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net). Please also tell your friends and colleagues that they can have a complimentary subscription to our news service by signing up there.

Mark Ellis worked in the commercial real estate industry before he answered a call into full-time Christian ministry. For 9 years, he served as Asst. Pastor at Church by the Sea in Laguna Beach. He began writing about the church around the world in 1999 with the assistance of Dan Wooding of ASSIST News. After a mission trip to the southern Philippines in 2004, God gave him the vision for the God Reports website, which supports and encourages Christian Missions. He also serves on the board of Morning Star News.

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